Problem:

When I switch on my PC, after BIOS POST, a cursor is blinking for about 5 seconds and then I am getting this error message:

A disk read error occurred.
Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart.

I am able to go into BIOS. But Windows loader doesn't even start. This message is shown after my motherboard logo comes and goes.

Symptoms:

• I DID notice my system freezing for minutes at a time for past two days.
• Also, in the past two days, it stopped half way through the Window booting process. I had to do hard reset couple of times to get it working.
• But since today morning, I only get this error message.

Configuration:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit only.
Hard disk: 1 Physical Disk - 80GB SATA
Partitions: Two (2) - C: and D:
File System: NTFS
No drive encryption or compression is turned on.

After I searched on the net, I have found people mentioning these possible causes:

• Hard Disk is physically failing
• Corrupt MBR
• Bad Sector

I am planning to buy a new hard disk, install Windows on it and continue. But I need data from the old hard disk. The data I want is in D: drive, outside any Windows user folder, is not encrypted or compressed or protected in anyway. I think if someone/something can get the disk working again and knows NTFS, the data can be hopefully read.

What steps should I follow to recover files from the defective disk?

Update:

I bought a new disk, installed windows on it and added the defective one as a slave. Then I was able to read the data from the defective hard disk. Though chkdsk found lots of errors, the files I wanted were not affected and I got them back :) I am not using that hard disk anymore though it seems to be working at the moment.